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During coronavirus crisis, Catholic Charities on front lines as food assistance needs increase dramatically 

Food is prepared for distribution at the Catholic Charities Center in Wheaton, Maryland, which like many of the agency's food programs, has seen a dramatic increase in people needing help during the coronavirus outbreak. On the day this photo was taken, people lined up around the building an hour before service was to begin. Staff was equipped with gloves and masks and worked diligently to keep clients at appropriate social distances from each other. (Catholic Charities photo)

Feeding the hungry – one of the Works of Mercy described by Jesus in Matthew 25 – unfolds every day in the outreach of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington.

 But with the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting financial crisis impacting many individuals and families, the agency has seen a dramatic growth in the need for providing food to those in need in the nation’s capital and in surrounding Maryland counties.

“It’s multiplied greatly,” said Scott Lewis, the executive director of Catholic Charities’ Enterprises, Education and Employment Department.

As an example, he noted, “I was working three weeks ago at the Spanish Catholic Center’s food pantry in Washington, D.C., and we saw 54 families. This was just before the stay-at-home order (for D.C. residents).”

This week at that food pantry, Lewis said they served 200 families on Wednesday April 8, and expected to distribute another 200 food packages the following day – which amounts to a nearly eight-fold increase in less than a month.

That growth in need for food assistance in this community has spurred Catholic Charities to launch a Virtual Food Drive  beginning on Holy Thursday, April 9 and continuing through Holy Saturday, April 11. Holy Thursday commemorates Jesus’s Last Supper when He instituted the Eucharist, and it was also when Jesus washed the feet of his Apostles, demonstrating to His followers the necessity to serve others. Catholic Charities hopes that local Catholics will be inspired by a spirit of service on Holy Thursday to make online financial donations for its Virtual Food Drive. 

Catholic Charities Virtual Food Drive, said Lewis, “is really important, because we wouldn’t have funding to support all this extra purchasing we needed to do and all the food distributions.”

Catholic Charities is on the front lines of the fight against hunger in the region all year round. In 2019, the agency provided more than 2.5 million meals to those in need and distributed more than 1 million pounds of food to local pantries. The organization served 16,000 warm meals through the weekly St. Maria’s Meals weekly dinner program, and more than 34,000 people were able to purchase affordable, nutritious groceries through its SHARE Food Network.

Lewis noted that the food packages that are given out at the Spanish Catholic Center’s pantry can feed a family of four for a little more than a week and include frozen meat and fresh fruit and vegetables and other staples.

“We are seeing a lot of people that are laid off,” he said, noting that many worked in restaurants that have been closed during the coronavirus outbreak as government officials have tried to limit the size of social gatherings to prevent the spread of the disease.

The Spanish Catholic Center is also providing food to undocumented immigrants who during this crisis don’t have access to government resources for help.

Continuing its outreach over the phone, Catholic Charities’ employment program is helping some displaced workers find jobs during the coronavirus shutdown, including in warehouses or at stores that need help restocking shelves.

“We’ve been able to get some of our folks back to work,” Lewis said.

A client receives help at the Spanish Catholic Center's food pantry in Washington, D.C., which is operated by Catholic Charities. (Catholic Charities photo)

Another dramatic example of the growing need for food assistance unfolded on April 1, as Catholic Charities gave out grocery store gift cards at the Spanish Catholic Center, and 600 people lined up for help.

That growth in need has also been seen at Catholic Charities’ Southern Maryland Food Bank in Waldorf, said that program’s director, Brenda DiCarlo.

“For us, the biggest crisis has been for our school-aged children and seniors,” she said. “We’ve seen a 200 percent increase in people coming to our weekly pantry on Tuesdays.”

While schools are closed in that region due to coronavirus precautions, the Southern Maryland Food Bank has worked with school officials to provide and distribute more than 1,000 bags of food a week to the families of children at 11 area schools.

Before the coronavirus shutdown, that food bank handed out snack bags to senior citizens living at three different area apartment complexes. Now since visitors are not allowed there, the Southern Maryland Food Bank delivers about 400 of the snack bags a week to those senior apartment complexes, and staff members there deliver them. The snack bags also include notes “to brighten their days,” DiCarlo said.

“A lot of the seniors are alone. We’ve gotten to know them personally,” she said, explaining that the notes, along with some jokes in the snack bags, are “just to let them know somebody cares. We care, and we’re thinking about them.” 

Deacon Jim Nalls, the executive director of  the agency’s Family, Parish and Community Outreach Department, said the pantry at the Catholic Charities Center in Wheaton, Maryland, has likewise seen a great increase in need.

“On a normal day before, we had 30 clients. Today we had 92” receiving food, he said.

That center gives out food three days a week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Those coming for food help “are mostly working poor who are no longer working,” whose jobs included working at now-closed restaurants, he said. 

Normally the clients at the Wheaton center could select their food, but now they receive two big bags of food, packed with items like chicken, canned tuna, pasta and sauce, peanut butter, cereal, juice and milk, and canned fruit and vegetables. 

Deacon Nalls praised the dedication of the staff members at the Catholic Charities Center in Wheaton. “Everybody’s working hard to serve the people that need the help.”

And as their outreach continues during the coronavirus crisis, he said, “My biggest concern is everybody’s safety… We’ve taken as many precautions as we can with protective gear and spacing.”

Lewis noted that those seeking help, like everyone else in the community, are afraid of catching and suffering from the virus, but they have the added anxiety of worrying about providing food for themselves and their families.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty. People are nervous and scared,” he said. “…Everyone’s afraid now.”

Helping those in need is central to the agency’s Catholic identity, he added. “That’s what we do every day,” Lewis said. That outreach, he said, is even more critical for people in need during the coronavirus crisis, “since there are many doors closed (to them) now.”

Deacon Nalls agreed, saying, “We are the service arm of the Church, and people need service now. They need help. The bottom line is, this is what we do.”

This Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, the deacon will be assisting at the livestreamed Masses celebrated at his parish, St. Patrick’s in Rockville, that parishioners will be watching from home. And he’ll continue to find inspiration from the help that he sees Catholic Charities giving to people in the community at this challenging time.

“It is inspiring,” he said. “It helps me realize why I work at Catholic Charities instead of the corporate job I used to do.”

Lewis likewise is reminded of the importance of that service, as he sees the eyes of people who are being helped, and hears their words of gratitude.

“I do see a million blessings in all of this,” he said. “I’m grateful I work for an organization on the front lines helping these people out.”

After Catholic Charities’ Virtual Food Drive concludes on Holy Saturday, the agency will continue to have an overall COVID-19 response drive at https://www.catholiccharitiesdc.org/covid19-urgent-need/.

“We don’t just give them food. We try to feed them spiritually as well, and give them hope,” Lewis said.

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